Chapter 14 Chapter Fourteen

On November 1 Kutuzov received news from his scouts which might have cornered his army.The scouts reported that the Frenchmen had crossed the Vienna Bridge in great numbers and were advancing towards the lines of communication of Kutuzov and the Russian troops.If Kutuzov made up his mind to stay at Krem, Napoleon's army of 150,000 men would cut off his lines of communication and surround his exhausted army of 40,000 men, and he would be in the same desperate situation as Mark at the Battle of Ulm. .If Kutuzov had made up his mind to abandon his path of communication with the Russian army, he would have had no choice but to enter the strange and nameless mountains of Bohemia, to defend himself from an enemy with superior numbers. , and lost any hope of him getting in touch with Buxgevden.If Kutuzov made up his mind to retreat along the way, from Krems to Olmitz, to join the Russian army, the French who crossed the Vienna Bridge would have to beat Kutuzov on this road. He was exposed to danger, so that he was compelled to fight on the march with all kinds of heavy equipment and supplies, against an enemy twice as strong, who attacked him from two sides.

Kutuzov chose the latter way out. The scouts reported that the French had crossed the Vienna Bridge and were advancing at Znaim, on the road of Kutuzov's retreat, at a forced march, more than a hundred versts ahead of Kutuzov.Arriving at Znaim before the French officers and soldiers means that the hope of saving the entire army is greater; allowing the French officers and soldiers to arrive at Znaim before the French officers and soldiers means that the entire army will definitely suffer a great humiliation such as the Battle of Ulm, or the entire army will be destroyed. overwhelmed.However, it was impossible to lead the whole army to the front of the French officers and soldiers.The road for French officers and soldiers from Vienna to Znaim is shorter and easier to travel than the road for Russian officers and soldiers from Krems to Znaim.

On the evening of receiving the news, Kutuzov dispatched Bagration's vanguard of 4,000 horsemen to advance from the right side of the Krems-Zssom road over the hills to the Vienna-Zsnaim road.Bagration was to complete the journey without stopping, and pitch his camp with his back to Znaim facing Vienna.If he could get ahead of the French officers and soldiers, he should stop them as much as possible, and Kutuzov himself set off for Znaim with all kinds of heavy equipment. On a stormy night Bagration traveled forty-five versts with his starving and bare-booted soldiers through the pathless mountains, losing a third of the stragglers.Bagration arrived at Vienna-Horrabrun on the Znaim Avenue a few hours before the French officers and soldiers were advancing near Hollabrun.Kutuzov, with his baggage, had to travel another day and night to reach Znaim; therefore, to save the army Bagration had to spend a day and a night at Horabrun with four thousand hungry and tired soldiers to hold back all the enemy forces encountered. , which is obviously impossible.But a strange fate makes the impossible possible.The success of the deception of putting the Vienna Bridge in the hands of French officers and soldiers without a fight prompted Murat to try to deceive Kutuzov too.When Murat met Bagration's meager detachment on the Tsnaim Avenue, he took it for Kutuzov's entire army.In order to persist in crushing this army, he had to wait for the officers and soldiers who had left behind on the way from Vienna, and for this purpose he proposed a three-day truce, on condition that the troops of both sides should not change their quarters and stay where they were.Murat wanted everyone to believe that peace talks were under way, and in order to avoid useless bloodshed, he proposed a truce.

The Austrian general Count Nostitz, who was in the outpost, believed the words of the envoy Murat, opened the way for Bagration's troops, and retreated himself.Another envoy sailed to the Russian skirmish line, and also announced the same news of the peace talks, suggesting that the Russian army should cease fighting for three days.Bagration replied that he could not decide whether to accept the truce proposal, and he sent his adjutant to Kutuzov with a report recommending a truce. The truce was the only way for Kutuzov to buy time, and Bagration's weary troops could rest for a while, even if he allowed the baggage and heavy equipment to advance a little farther towards Znaim. (Transporting baggage and heavy equipment without telling the French officers and soldiers).This proposal for a truce created an unexpected and unique opportunity for the rescue of the army.As soon as Kutuzov received the news, he immediately sent his aide-de-camp, Vinzengerode, to the enemy camp.Winzengerode should not only accept the terms of the armistice, but also offer the terms of surrender; at the same time, Kutuzov sent several adjutants to try to urge the entire army's baggage on the Krems-Znaim road forward. advance.Only Bagration's exhausted and starving troops camped in the face of an enemy seven times stronger, to cover their baggage and the march of the whole army.

Kutuzov's expectations came true. One is that the surrender proposal does not require any responsibility.It can make part of the baggage win the opportunity to advance; the second is that Murat's mistakes will be exposed soon.Bonaparte, who was stationed at Schönbrunn, twenty-five versts from Hollabrunn, saw the deception as soon as he received Murat's information and the draft for an armistice and surrender, and sent Murat wrote the following letter. Prince Murat: I can't find the right words to express my dissatisfaction with you.you only You can command my vanguard, and you have no right to cease fighting and make peace without my order.You have cost me the whole battle.You immediately tore up the armistice proposal and went to destroy the enemy.You declare to him that the general who signed this surrender has no right to make this decision, and no one but the Tsar of Russia has the right to make this decision.

But if the Tsar agrees to this condition, I agree with it, then And this is just a trick.You are going to destroy the Russian army...you will be able to capture the Russian army's baggage and artillery. The Chief Military Attaché to the Tsar is a liar... If the officers have not granted He has no power to play any role without full power... The Austrians were deceived when crossing the Vienna bridge, and you were deceived by the Russian military attache. Napoleon Schönbrunn, 25th Brumaire, 1805, at 8:00 Bonaparte's aide-de-camp galloped towards Murat with this dreadful letter.Bonaparte himself did not trust the general, and for fear of letting go of a ready-made victim, he led the imperial army to the battlefield.Bagration's 4,000-horse detachment was happily making a bonfire, drying clothes, warming themselves, and cooking for the first time after the three-day armistice, without anyone in the detachment knowing or thinking about what was about to happen.